Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 8, 1998
Princeton honors high school teachers
By Caroline Moseley
Geoffrey Branigan (l), Daniel Moran,
Kathleen Foley and Florence McGinn
with President Shapiro (photo: Denise Applewhite)
At Commencement, four N.J. secondary school teachers participated in the ceremonies along with President Shapiro and other dignitaries, receiving awards for Distinguished Secondary School Teaching.
The awards consist of $5,000 for each teacher, plus $2,500 for each school's library. Princeton has made the awards since 1959, thanks to an anonymous gift from an alumnus. All N.J. secondary school teachers are eligible for the awards, which are administered by the Teacher Preparation Program and the Dean of the College.
The four 1998 winners -- Geoffrey Branigan of Montclair Kimberley Academy, Kathleen Foley of Northern Valley Regional High School, Florence McGinn of Hunterdon Central Regional High School and Daniel Moran of East Brunswick High School -- were selected from among approximately 70 nominations, says Marue Walizer, director of the Teacher Preparation Program.
Selection begins in October
The selection process begins in October, when Nancy Malkiel, dean of the college, sends a letter to the principal or head of every public, private and parochial secondary school in the state inviting nominations. Nominees must be people whose major activity is secondary school teaching, who have at least five years of continuous classroom service and who are currently assigned to classroom teaching at least three-fifths time. Each school can offer only one nomination.
Criteria, says Walizer, focus on ''classroom effectiveness and impact on students both in and out of the classroom.'' Nominations include a supporting letter by the person best able to speak of the nominee's work, as well as supporting letters from one other colleague of the nominee and from two students whom the nominee has taught within the last five years. The teachers also submit a statement of their philosophy of teaching.
When nominations are in (the deadline is January 15), ''The papers are sent to the selection committee, each member of which reads all the applications and scores them,'' says Walizer. Chaired by Malkiel, the committee includes Professor of History Michael Mahoney and Professor of Molecular Biology Edward Cox; Thomas Ficarra, superintendent of schools in Mount Arlington; Gwen Grant of the state Department of Education; and Walizer.
''When we've narrowed the applicant pool down to 10 or 12,'' Walizer continues, ''we send an observer to spend an entire day in school, observing those teachers and interviewing their colleagues and students.'' The observers are teaching supervisors Margaret Fels, Todd Kent and Peg McCormack of the Teacher Preparation Program, along with special education consultant Linda Levine, science consultant Silvia DeBenedetti and David Mackey, a retired art teacher.
Says Kent, ''Part of my job is to portray accurately the teacher and the school for the selection committee, so in that sense I'm a reporter and not necessarily an evaluator.'' The observers talk with school administrators and get information on the demographics of the student body, the curriculum and the surrounding community. ''I also ask what distinguishes this teacher from others in the school, what influence he or she has had on colleagues and the school community, and how this teacher's students differ from students of other teachers,'' Kent says.
The observers also watch the teachers at work in several classes and talk to students. ''To see if a teacher is effective,'' Kent believes, ''you should watch the students, not the teacher. I look to see whether students are actively thinking about course content. I listen to their questions and comments. Do they put new learning in the context of past learning? Do they assume responsibility for learning, or are they being fed information?''
Important to Fels are ''students' comments and their level of enthusiasm in private conversation. It's a plus when a student tells me that the teacher has inspired him to work hard in a subject area he didn't think would interest him or that she's excited to be doing better than she thought she could.''
Back in Princeton, each observer writes a two or three page report on the day's events, which is circulated to the selection committee. ''There's usually consensus on one or two people,'' says Walizer, ''and then we argue vehemently.''
Branigan, Foley, McGinn, Moran
Meet the four teachers honored this year. History teacher Branigan, who has taught at Montclair Kimberley since 1988, is chair of the history department and a member of the academic programs committee. In addition to teaching honors and AP history, politics and humanities courses, he is football coach and adviser to the Student Council. He also works with student service organizations. As codirector of the 1991 International Festival of Youth, he involved more than 200 students from 12 schools in 10 countries in a cultural exchange program. In his Locke Project, students create their own demonstrations of how they understand John Locke's theories; these have ranged from fairy tales, songs and plays to videotapes from courtroom and jail.
Branigan has led backpacking, canoeing, mountaineering and cycling expeditions in the U.S. and abroad for his school's Summer Wilderness School and advises the outdoor leadership program. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received his MA from New York University.
Since 1986 chemistry teacher Foley has taught at Northern Valley, where she instituted the Chemistry Olympics and a math and science achievement dinner, as well as discussions on women's issues. ''Chem-Is-Try'' is Foley's motto as she encourages more students, particularly women, to enroll in her courses. She also advises science clubs and coaches freshman softball.
Foley has served on the curriculum development committee for chemistry and science courses and given numerous presentations at schools and professional associations on the role of women in science. She earned her BS at Molloy College in Rockville Center, N.Y., her EdM at William Paterson College in Wayne, and her EdD at Rutgers. She received a Teacher of the Year award from the North Jersey Chapter of the American Chemical Society.
McGinn has taught English at Hunterdon Central since 1982. She designed a Gifted and Talented Creative Writing course as well as an upper school honors elective on Imaginative Process in Writing and Literature. Her student writers have won awards in state writing and poetry contests. She is also staff adviser for an electronic literary magazine, Electric Soup. Winner of a 1988 N.J. Governor's Teacher of the Year award, she was 1997 State Teen Arts festival writing coordinator.
McGinn believes ''Words bring meaning and continuity to the measure of our lives. ... Creative artists work with courage and growth, and so does the teacher, education's creative artist.'' She has published poetry in several reviews and expects her anthology, ''Blood Trail,'' to be published this year. A graduate of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, she received her MA from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
English teacher Moran has been at East Brunswick High since 1991. He has developed curricula and taught courses in American literature, British literature and World Literature. As director of the drama club, he has produced six plays and five musicals.
Moran is author of chapters on Gore Vidal, Edmond Rostand, David Mamet and T.S. Eliot in Drama for Students. He also wrote A Teacher's Guide to Juxtapositions, an instructor's manual to a college writing text. A Rutgers graduate with a master's degree in English literature, he was a 1994 fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities at Columbia University.